The Club Alpino Italiano is the senior Italian

alpine club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

which stages

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or other parts of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders) to small boulders. Climbing is done for locom ...

competitions, operates alpine huts, marks and maintains paths, and is active in protecting the Alpine environment. It was founded in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

in 1863 by the then finance minister, and mountaineer, Quintino Sella; together with the

Swiss Alpine Club The Swiss Alpine Club (, , , ) is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 110 sections with 174,726 members (2023). These include the Association of British Members of the Swiss ...

, founded in the same year, it is the second-oldest Alpine Club in the world, only preceded by the British Alpine Club. After

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the annexation of Trento and

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

to Italy, it absorbed the "Società degli Alpinisti Tridentini" and the "Società Alpina delle Giulie". As of 2020, it had 306.255 members, 512 sections and 316 sub-sections; the greatest numbers of members came from

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

(88,057),

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

(54,948), and

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

(51,396). Its most famous achievement is the 1954 Italian Karakoram expedition to K2 that made the first successful ascent of K2. The CAI operates 388

mountain hut A mountain hut is a building located at high elevation, in mountainous terrain, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineering, mountaineers, climbing, climbers and Hiking, hikers. Mountain huts are us ...

s, 251 bivouacs and 118 smaller huts and shelters throughout the

Italian Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, for an overall capacity of over 23,500 beds.

Publishing activity

Among many other publications the Club Alpino Italiano, along with

Touring Club Italiano The Touring Club Italiano (TCI) (Italian Touring Club or Touring Club of Italy) is the major Italian national tourist organization. History The Touring Club Ciclistico Italiano (TCCI) was founded on 8 November 1894 by a group of bicyclists to ...

, published between 1908 and 2013 the ''

Guida dei Monti d'Italia Guida is a given name and surname. Of Italian origin, it is the patronymic or plural form of Guido. It can also mean "guide" in longer names such as Cacciaguida. People with the surname * Robert "Bob" J. Giuda (born 1952), American politician f ...

'' (in English ''Guidebook to the Italian mountains''), a series of guidebooks covering all the mountain ranges of Italy.

Influence on Italian Army uniforms

Italian military troops adopted a grey-green uniform during World War I. Luigi Brioschi, president of the Milanese section of the C.A.I. (Italian Alpine Club) in 1905 introduced a combat uniform more suitable for a modern war, replacing the showy uniforms of the Royal Sardinian Army. Brioschi demonstrated that the grey uniforms were less visible by opponent snipers, therefore, the project was financed.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control